Page 18

Nine

CIANA

T here was so much pain.

It hurt to breathe, to think, to live…

But there was also something that held the pain at bay. It came in waves of lightness that would flutter over me like a gossamer scarf in a breeze. And with every passing wave, I felt a little stronger, just a little bit better, a little more alive.

The ever-changing swells of pain and healing were exhausting. The only way to shut off all sensations was to sleep. So I did. I let my mind slip into oblivion. And when the pain tried to yank my awareness back to it, I let the healing waves rock me back to sleep, again and again.

How long had I floated like this between pain and relief?

I didn’t know. And didn’t care.

But when something wetted my lips, I opened my mouth and greedily sucked it in, desperate for water.

“Drink…” I mumbled.

The word came out in a whisper. My dry, swollen tongue could hardly move inside my mouth .

“Here, my darling,” came a deep, familiar voice.

The hard ring of a water bag pressed to my lips, then lukewarm water trickled into my mouth as someone held my head.

“Kurai?” I said his name before I even opened my eyes.

“I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

My eyes were opened now, but it made no difference. The darkness was impenetrable.

“Where are you? I can’t see you.” I shifted in worry.

His arm hugged my shoulders.

“Shhh. Don’t move yet. Your newly healed bones may snap if you do. Rest just a little longer. It’s dark in this cave. But I’m right here.”

I felt his body pressed to mine and turned toward him.

“My bones? Did I break something?”

My body felt like it had been run over by a truck. Every bone seemed to ache. But the pain wasn’t nearly as bad as what I imagined a fracture would feel like.

“We fell…” I remembered.

“We did,” he echoed. “We got hurt, but we’re healing. The pain is much less now, isn’t it?”

“Are you hurt too?” I reached for him in the darkness. He caught my hand and pressed his lips to the middle of my palm.

“I broke a few bones too and bruised a few muscles. It was a long fall. But we’ve had some time to recover. I’ve been feeling well for days now.”

“For days? How long have we been here?”

“I’ve been awake for five nights now, but I slept for two before that.”

“Are you saying we’ve been here for a week?”

“Just over a week, yes.”

“And those snakes…the centipede, where are they?”

“There are none here anymore. But I will feel much better when we get out of here.”

“How are we going to get out of here? ”

“Well, that’s still a question.”

He shifted to rest my upper body on his lap, then lifted something on his right hand. I heard him mutter a few words, then a green glow spread from his hand up to the ceiling that was so high, it almost seemed like we were outside under the open sky.

The illusion was made even more real by the glow of little dots that formed constellations above us.

“What is it?” I asked, relieved that I could finally see his face again in the light of these artificial stars.

His green eyes reflected the glow, looking like two more stars in the darkness.

“It’s a navigation crystal.” He raised a cluster of onyx black crystals in his hand.

“It shows the stars in any weather and at any time of the day. According to this, we should be going that way to get to Himerum.” He gestured to the right where there was nothing but a wide wall of rock.

“But as far as I can see, the only way out of this cavern is through there.” He pointed in the opposite direction where a blot of darkness in the rock must mark the opening of a tunnel.

“How far does that tunnel go?” I asked.

“That I don’t know. I didn’t want to move you before you fully healed, and I couldn’t leave you to explore.”

Only now I noticed the black smoky ropes of his tendrils running from him to me.

“Is that how I’m still alive?” I asked as it dawned on me.

If Kurai was correct about the time, then I’d been without food for ten days now.

I felt hungry, like I could eat an entire cow if given a chance.

But the exhaustion and the dizziness that had accompanied me at the beginning of this journey were now gone.

The fuzziness in my head had cleared too.

Even the ache had been slowly melting away from my body.

“Are you…supporting me through them somehow?” I touched his tendril in my arm.

He rubbed his forehead. “It seems to be that way. I’m not entirely sure how it happens. The leilathas are created in a way that allows for the emotions to flow from the human to the fae. But it looks like a flow in the opposite direction is also possible. The flow of magic.”

“Is that how my bones have healed in just five days?”

“Five days is still longer than it took for my bones to heal.”

“All right, we know you’re magical.” I petted his hand. “But human bones normally take weeks to heal, not just a few days.”

“I guess my magic helped then.” He smiled.

“It’s still helping. I wouldn’t be feeling as well as I am on my own. After ten days with no food, I likely wouldn’t even be alive anymore.”

“I can’t let that happen.” Leaning down, he placed a kiss on my cheek, and I realized he’d learned that from me.

Some time ago, I started kissing him goodbye every morning when we parted. It was just an innocent peck on his cheek, and I told myself it meant nothing. But I longed for that contact with him. I wished to touch him, hold him, and have him close.

I also knew that shadow fae didn’t normally kiss each other, and I tried not to expect him to ever kiss me back, but deep inside, I secretly wished that he would.

Warm ripples spread from his kiss through my chest.

He stroked my cheek with the tip of his finger, making a circle around the spot his lips had touched.

“I never knew how much a kiss made you feel,” he marveled, sensing through his tendrils exactly how I felt.

But it was his kiss. He was the one who made me feel so many things that both elated and terrified me.

A shadow of worry crossed his eyes. He must have felt my fear too.

“We should go,” I blurted out before he might ask me to clarify it. “I can move. I’ll be fine. See?” I gathered my legs under me, ready to get up.

“No. I’ll carry you.” He hooked his arm under my knees.

I hugged his neck, feeling more than comfortable in his arms. Guilt slithered into my chest, however. He hadn’t slept for days, watching over me. And now, he had to carry me too.

“Don’t,” he said before I voiced it. “I can sense your concern. But you don't need to have it. Somehow, taking care of you feels like the one right thing I’ve ever done in my life. Please, don’t deny me that.”

The short tunnel led us into another large cavern, then into another one.

Somehow, Kurai found his way in complete darkness. For me, it often felt like he walked through the vacuum of outer space, with no floor, no ceiling, no walls. No light or life, just endless nothingness.

After walking for hours, we came into yet another giant cave. This one was illuminated with flickering blue and pink lights that made it look magically mesmerizing. The light came from the tiny dots in the stone.

“This is so beautiful,” I gushed. “What is this light? It looks like a place made for a party.”

“It's a fungus living in the dents of the stone. But some people believe it’s the light from the surface trapped in the rock.”

“I like the second explanation better.” I laughed. “It’s definitely more suitable for something this beautiful than just some fungus.”

“Either way, it means we’re getting closer to the surface. Have you noticed the ground has been steadily sloping up?”

I hadn’t noticed that, but I wasn’t the one walking. Kurai had been carrying me all this way.

“We should find a place to rest,” he said. “You’ll need to get some sleep.”

“ You should get some sleep,” I corrected. “I’ve done nothing but sleep for days now. I’ll stay up, just in case the snakes return or something.”

“The centipedes? We’re a long way from them now. But it doesn’t mean there couldn't be another nest of them nearby.”

He walked around the cave until he found a raised flat rock that he deemed the safest place for us to rest on. After lowering me on the rock, he climbed on it, too, and made himself comfortable by laying on his side with his arm under his head.

“Wake me up when you feel sleepy,” he said, closing his eyes.

Crossing my legs under me, I sat next to him, determined to stay awake. The soft flickering lights made it easier to do than being in the darkness. I swept the cave with my gaze, making sure nothing was moving to attack us. But the space seemed empty.

When I looked back at Kurai, he appeared to be deep asleep already.

The pink and blue lights cast a pretty glow on his black shimmering skin.

A peaceful expression relaxed his handsome features.

His long eyelashes rested over his high cheekbones, making him look younger than both his actual fae age and his perceived human age of about thirty.

“…taking care of you feels like the one right thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he’d said.

And I cared for him too. I wished to protect and cherish him. Tenderness filled me, and maybe he sensed it through his tendrils in his sleep because he shifted closer. Wrapping an arm around my middle, he slid me toward him, then placed his head on my lap.

I ran my fingers over his hair in a soothing motion.

“Sleep, Kurai,” I whispered. “I’ll watch over you.”

Kurai didn’t sleep long. After a nap, he was ready to keep moving.

As pretty as this cave was, I was happy to leave it. After a while, the flickering lights made me feel uneasy. They created moving shadows that creeped me out, making it look like someone or something was sneaking up on us. I breathed with relief when we left the “party cave” behind us.

The tunnel behind the cave wasn’t entirely dark either. But the soft yellow glow from the rock of its walls was more subtle and steady than the pink-blue flicker in the cave.